Green Mountain

Si Caogui and Lin Chaoqing stood back-to-back, both breathing heavily, surveying the rooftops.

The crossbowmen on the roofs had stern expressions, each capable of drawing a hundred-pound bow, their arrowheads gleaming coldly under the moonlight.

The Imperial Guard originally surrounding the two pulled back their horses to avoid accidental harm.

Unwilling to sit and await their fate, Lin Chaoqing shouted softly, "Follow me, don’t be a sitting duck!"

The two charged again at the Imperial Guard, but a voice suddenly called out coldly from the rooftops, "Hold!"

Feathered arrows pinned down the ground before them, forcibly separating them from the Imperial Guard.

The rooftop voice commanded again, "Prepare!"

The crossbowmen drew feathered arrows from their quivers but only knocked and did not shoot.

The Imperial Guard on the long street retreated several dozen steps, leaving the two alone, as the tension of the bowstrings creaked ominously, freezing them in place.

Lin Chaoqing looked around, leaning against Si Caogui, suddenly asked, "Why do the crossbowmen hold their fire? They want to capture us alive...

We’re not here to assassinate any Council Chief Executive Officer, right? We’re traitors!"

Si Caogui acknowledged with a "Hmm," saying, "I am, you’re not."

Lin Chaoqing glanced again at the crossbowmen on the rooftop: "I’m not your brother, am I?"

Si Caogui remained silent for a moment: "Since you’ve guessed it, why did you still come back?"

Lin Chaoqing pondered for a moment: "I don’t know, I wanted to come back so I did."

Si Caogui chuckled: "Ah Jie gave you a good slap, making you twenty years younger. Back then, you were not as annoying as you are now."

Lin Chaoqing sneered, "What about you?"

Si Caogui was taken aback, then sighed: "I’m quite annoying now too. If I survive, I’ll let Ah Jie slap me every three days, each slap enough to forget new and old grudges, to forget my dreams and aspirations, better than drinking."

Lin Chaoqing gripped the big halberd tightly: "Enough of the nonsense, what are our odds of fighting our way out?"

"No need," Si Caogui leaned on the big halberd, looking beyond the Imperial Guard: "The master has arrived. You can live, but I must die."

Lin Chaoqing froze.

He turned to see a simple carriage arriving from the end of the long street, accompanied by Lu Qian, Lu Xun, Lu Gen, and Jiang Liuxian, along with the Great Commander of the Imperial Guard, Yuan Sheng, riding over.

Despite the carriage being small, it felt like a mountain pressing down, as the Imperial Guard tightened their reins to clear a path.

The carriage slowly stopped, and Lu Qian lifted the curtain, helping Lu Jin down.

As Lu Jin was about to walk to the center of the long street, Lu Xun crossed his arms and said, "Be careful, sir, these two..."

Lu Jin, with a calm expression, raised his hand, brushing Lu Xun aside: "No need to worry."

He approached Si Caogui alone, standing within three steps of the big halberd, looking at Si Caogui with a gentle expression.

He examined Si Caogui’s wounds: "When did you return to Shangjing?"

Si Caogui forced a bitter smile: "A while ago."

Lu Jin asked again, "Why didn’t you come to see me?"

Si Caogui was at a loss for words.

"Understood," Lu Jin nodded, then looked at Lin Chaoqing. With just a glance into Lin Chaoqing’s eyes, he realized: "You’ve been struck by the Kan Trigram palm?"

Si Caogui remained silent.

Lu Jin, with renewed interest, smiled and said to Lin Chaoqing, "Ah Qing, I am your brother."

Lin Chaoqing sneered, "And I’m your father!"

But Lu Jin was not angered; instead, he threw back his head and laughed heartily: "That palm is interesting indeed, allowing me to see the unfettered Yuan Qing from over twenty years ago once more! I want Ah Yue to give each of you a palm, to see your untainted youthful selves."

Si Caogui suddenly asked in a solemn voice: "Sir, would you dare take a Kan Trigram palm? Unfortunately, you won’t see your original self."

Lu Jin spoke softly: "My heart remains as it was, not daring to change in a single day."

Among the three, only Lin Chaoqing felt lost, unsure whether to slay the fearless middle-aged man before him.

Lu Jin smiled and said to Lin Chaoqing, "Throw away your weapons; no one here will trouble you. You’ve been struck by the Eight Trigrams Dragon’s Kan Trigram palm, so you won’t remember anything from before for three days; after three days, your memory will return."

Lin Chaoqing didn’t trust him and instead looked to Si Caogui: "Is it true?"

Si Caogui nodded: "It’s true."

Lin Chaoqing hesitated for a while, just about to throw down the big halberd with suspicion, but seemed to think of something, and raised the big halberd again, blocking in front of Si Caogui, staring at Lu Jin: "Do you want to kill him?"

Lu Jin chuckled, waved his hand: "Go rest, I will talk to him alone."

Si Caogui patted Lin Chaoqing’s shoulder: "Brother, go ahead, I will talk to the lord."

Lin Chaoqing looked at Si Caogui, then at Lu Jin, immediately threw the big halberd on the ground, turned around and walked towards the carriage, the Imperial Guard did not trouble him.

When only Lu Jin and Si Caogui remained in the yard, Lu Jin smiled: "You and Lu Ye fought your way here to stop Lin Chaoqing, it seems I guessed right."

Si Caogui’s heart tightened.

Lu Jin sighed lightly: "Do you think I would kill her? She is my sister."

Si Caogui looked around, at the crossbowmen on the roof ridges: "I don’t understand the matters between you siblings, you can say whatever you want now, anyway, there’s no way to verify. I only ask you one thing, why did the money our Military Intelligence Department worked so hard to earn end up in Yuan Xiang’s pocket."

Lu Jin looked up at the city walls of Shangjing City: "Ah Gui, what was it like when we first arrived in the Ning Dynasty?"

Si Caogui pursed his lips slightly.

Lu Jin folded his hands into his sleeves, spoke calmly: "We couldn’t eat enough, nor dress warmly, several people squeezed into a small house in Yangyang Alley, even turning over in our sleep would bump into people. At that time, we relied on Ah Yue leading us in doing the business of the Eight Generals of Thousand Gates to gradually build up our possessions and strengthen the Military Intelligence Department."

"At that time, I wasn’t yet the Council Chief Executive Officer, and you weren’t the Si Cao, you naturally didn’t have to worry about how to deal with the court, but you didn’t know how hard it was for me to get a letter from the court to confer your ranks. Do you still remember that New Year’s Eve when I took a boat back to Shangjing, and when I returned, I brought your promotion papers, and everyone became Eighth-rank Assistant Captains. You happily drank, praised the emperor’s wisdom, but you didn’t know that it was exchanged with 1,800 taels of silver."

Lu Jin withdrew his gaze, looked directly into Si Caogui’s eyes: "1,800 taels of silver, that was half a year’s savings for us. You and I don’t seek salary or fame, we shed blood for the Ning Dynasty, only seeking a piece of court recognition worthy of our ancestors. Yet, those who occupy positions without doing real work wouldn’t even grant us a worthless paper without being paid. One Assistant Captain was 100 taels of silver, later when you were promoted to Fifth-rank Guerrilla General and appointed Si Cao, it turned into 1,200 taels, all were bought."

Si Caogui was momentarily dazed.

Lu Jin stepped forward, then turned to stand shoulder to shoulder with Si Caogui, looking at the distant Imperial City: "Ah Gui, the nobles under the Imperial City are born superior, but we’re different, we must be ghosts first, then humans. Doing extraordinary things, using extraordinary means, the efforts of the Military Intelligence Department have not been in vain, now I am the Council Chief Executive Officer, you are the Military Intelligence Department Chief, under my command are the Left and Right Golden Guards, Left Brave Guard, Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, Hu Ben Army... The ambition we held years ago is now within reach. Yuan Xiang is already old, give me three more years, no, two years, and you and I will lead the Royal Army south to pacify the Central Plains."

Si Caogui glanced sideways, only to see Lu Jin’s temples had turned gray, and the corners of his eyes were full of wrinkles: "Lord, I’ve always been at a loss for words against you, but this time I cannot fully trust what you say."

Lu Jin softly said: "Ah Gui, I know today you harbor a will to die, but I will not kill you."

Si Caogui was startled.

Lu Jin walked north: "I won’t ask what you’ve done before, nor how you think, I won’t kill you, nor will I kill Ah Yue. From now on, follow me, you can see with your own eyes how I do things."

Si Caogui watched Lu Jin’s back, puzzled: "Lord, you really won’t pursue and kill Ah Jie?"

"I won’t kill."

Si Caogui asked again: "What about Chen Ji?"

"Also won’t kill."

Lu Jin raised his hand slightly, the Imperial Guards withdrew like flowing water, heading north with the carriage, truly no longer pursuing Mrs. Lu.

...

...

Mrs. Lu rode swiftly, the words her brother just said echoing in her mind, she had a son, a son waiting for her in Yingkou.

How did she suddenly have a son, muddle-headed, who was her husband, what was her son called? She knew nothing.

Mrs. Lu thought her son should be very cute, and she should love him very much.

She would teach him to read and write.

Teach him the principles of being a person.

But that wouldn’t be enough, in spring she must take him to fly kites, in summer to travel the mountains and rivers, in autumn to pick fruits, in winter to build snowmen.

What if he didn’t want to read? Whatever, let him grow up happy.

As Mrs. Lu pondered, suddenly she heard drums in the distance. The drums beat in a peculiar quick and slow rhythm.

Soon after, the lanterns on the watchtower began to extinguish one by one, the Marquis on the tower also turned their backs, as if they didn’t hear the sound of swiftly passing horse hooves.

She was puzzled, how come those who were just chasing her suddenly stopped?

Mrs. Lu wanted to rein in her horse to find Si Caogui and Lin Chaoqing, but in the next moment, she saw a man and a woman rushing straight towards her, the man was sloppy, the woman was burly.

Just as she tried hard to recall who these two were, she heard the woman shout: "Don’t run, come and settle a score with me!"

The man gasped: "I beg you, stop and fight her, don’t run, if you keep running, I’ll drop dead..."

Mrs. Lu frowned, ignoring these two, turned her horse’s head and continued fleeing south.

Seeing the city gate approaching, surprisingly, even the Imperial Guard on the city tower ignored her, and there wasn’t even a single sentry on duty in the gatehouse.

Mrs. Lu galloped through the city gate arch, leading the man and woman into the night outside Shangjing City.

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